Multiplayer, 64 players per server
I've decided to make the game support 1-64 players per multiplayer server when I re-code the multiplayer in the coming weeks. There can be 3 - 7 gangs per city/server. There can only be 21 members in a gang. So in a server there will always be AT LEAST 63 potential player slots...the other dude can spectate until someone drops lol.
I'll have 3-4 + crysis-server spec'd servers running around the world at all times, as well as some other servers & a master server to make it all work [ yes I'm paying for it all, it's free for you].
I can make cities 8X bigger than I've shown so far, it's a simple slider bar in the city editor.
It's all planned out, etc...I just figured I'd let you guys know, and give you a little preview of the in-game ranking system. Ranks are assigned first come first server in the multiplayer lobby. In-game the ranks will shift around as players do more to help the gang they will rise in standing, and the ranks will shift around and generally settle.
Each player's avatar will appear in their place on the ladder to powah'...or there will be an generic AI avatar in the place of the ? mark avatar.
Rank will play a big role in precedence, ie: the boss can control any player at any time, etc. and the hierarchy also applies to giving orders, etc.
Yes, 5 minutes in photoshop ftw. There will be 2 of these, one for the gangs and one for the cops/swat team.
System Overview
I've had to create many different applications to make all this work out. Here is a little collapsed screenshot of the Urban Empires project...
-The 'UE Account Manager' is used to edit / delete / modify the multiplayer accounts/stats (from any computer). This application is not distributed with the game.
-The 'UE Auto Updater' is used to update UrbanEmpires.exe and to pull down new art assets, etc. from my master servers. When you click the UE icon this app is run, it allows me to update the game hourly if needed, it sort of 'wraps' around UrbanEmpires.exe(the game client). This application is distributed with the game.
-The 'UE Game Client' is the main game .exe, in other words, it's teh sauce. This application is distributed with the game.
-The 'UE Game Server' is the dedicated game server application used to host a game (even locally). This application is distributed with the game.
-The 'UE Key Gen' is the key generator for the game. This application is not distributed with the game, sorry lol.
-The 'UE Master Server' is used as an intermediary server which sends clients lists of active game servers, and also handles stat tracking, etc. All game servers attempt to register themselves automatically with the master server. Master&Game servers stay in constant contact with eachother. This application is not distributed with the game.
-The 'UE Package Reader' is an application I created to create / edit the game's custom .pkg package file format. It is used to protect the game's assets and also to keep the game directories clean (instead of having 6000 files on the HD, I'll have about 50 that are distributed with the game). This application is not distributed with the game.
Graphical User Interface
Here is a screeshot of the game's main menu [ I'm still working on it :-D ] you can see the GUI system I've created for the game as well as the internet radio. I don't think I've posted screenshots of this stuff for a long time.
GUI is totally skinnable, 6 - 7 skins will ship with the game. I wrote the whole GUI system from scratch. It's 1000s of lines of code, and after years of work is pretty refined / solid interaction wise. I use the same GUI system for the in-game management windows, all the way to the City Editor.
So here you go -
Back to work I go!
- Danny
Or have I missed something important, like AI controlled thugs?